Vintage Science: A Good Luck Card

This card was made to wish my son's girlfriend luck in her upcoming university exams.  She is a Chemistry student, so the Weird Science stamps from IndigoBlu were perfect.  As the card has a vintage feel, I am also entering it into the Vintage challenge over on I Love IndigoBlu.

I was working on a 20cm x 20cm cream card blank, so I cut a piece of super smooth cream card to 18.5cm x 18.5cm to make the background.  I have a favourite colour combination using three of the latest Distress Oxides.  Not one that I would have thought would be particularly wonderful, but having experimented, one that I love: Old Paper, Tea Dye and Ground Espresso.  I used the method of adding colour to a craft mat, spritzing with water and dragging and dabbing the card into the colour.  The card was dried thoroughly between layers.  First I started with Old Paper.

The next layer was Tea Dye.

Followed by Ground Espresso.

Another layer of Tea Dye.

Finally, another layer of Old Paper.

Next, I wanted to build up stamping all over the background using some of the Weird Science stamps designed by Kay Halliwell-Sutton.  I used the Ground Espresso Archival ink from the Tim Holtz palette of colours.  I held the Periodic Table of Elements stamp in my hand rather than using an acrylic block, as I wanted a soft outline and hints of the stamp rather than the whole thing.

Using the same ink I moved on to the Chemistry Lab set (also Kay Halliwell-Sutton/IndigoBlu), adding various chemistry related elements, this time using an acrylic block.

Once happy,  I went round the edge of the background with Ground Espresso Distress Oxide.  It was then matted onto a piece of kraft card (19cm x 19cm) followed by dark brown card (19.5cm x 19.5cm).  The whole thing was then added to the cream card blank.

I stamped one of the quotes and the large focal image from the same stamp set onto another piece of cream super smooth card, using the Ground Espresso Archival ink.  These were trimmed and matted up in the same way.  I used a corner rounder for the test tube rack to fit with the image.

The focal image was coloured using matching colours of Distress Markers, with a little Tumbled Glass thrown in to tie in with the bluish tones in the Old Paper Distress Oxide.

Both the focal image and the sentiment were added to the card using foam pads for added dimension.